2010 Current Needs
$3,000
x 100 ($300,000)
- build a new “sister” orphanage. In Secunderabad, police are “sweeping” beggar
children and runaways off the street. They
are taken to the Salesian sisters, who have rented a tiny emergency shelter,
where 65 children are currently sleeping on the concrete floor, huddled
together. No child is ever turned
away. They need a real home, a sister
orphanage to Home of Hope.
Our 100 steps to home program is a unique
opportunity for a lasting gift that will make that building a reality. Each of
100 stepping stones leading to the front door of the building will be richly
decorated by the girls themselves, with your name or the name of a loved
one. (Find out more at www.100stepstohome.com.) A donation of $3,000 reserves your stepping
stone and you will receive a replica of the stone. Each day, the orphan girls
and sisters will “pray” the stepping stones, much like beads of a rosary, and
you will be remembered. Just think: a
prayer each day for you or a loved one.
CURRENTLY, WE ARE $40,000 AWAY FROM REACHING OUR GOAL OF $300,000 TO BUILD THIS BRAND NEW ORPHANAGE!
$8,000 – english
language labs
are needed for our schools at Calicut, Kattappana, and Kottiyam. Spoken English
is the key to future education and employment and the language lab like this
one at Bangalore is the crucial tool to teach these poor and orphaned children. A language lab will be used not only for
school children, but also for adult education.
Your donation buys a 25-station lab, with TV monitor, audio equipment
and software. A plaque with your name
will be dedicated at the entrance to the lab.
$2,000 – Reverse osmosis water
purifiers
at six
of our schools and orphanages will put an end to the water-borne diseases that
afflict our children. A purifier will
produce enough drinking water for the orphanage, school, and sisters.
Secunderabad Orphanage
In early 2009, we were completing the construction of a new
orphanage in Kochi, so that Reena– the girl so cruelly blinded to
make her a “better beggar” and whose smile began this work four years ago –
would have a decent home. At about that
time our volunteer Stuart Padley, of Microsoft, found that the need was even
more critical and the situation even more desperate in Secunderabad, the twin
city of the high tech center of Hyderabad.
There the sisters were struggling to house and feed hundreds of street
children br ought to them. The children
were huddled in a small room, sleeping on the floor, four or five under a
single blanket as there was so little space.
Our Secunderabad video dramatically shows the conditions.
We vowed to build our second
orphanage and I can report that we are well on our way.
As you can
see we have a tentative plan, but what is truly unique is that we are going to
build India’s first “green” orphanage.
It will be a building that utilizes solar power to generate electricity,
harvests and reuses precious water, produces its own methane gas through a
biofuel unit, and will be a model, showing that “green” building is
feasible, even in construction for these, the poorest of the poor.
We are
working in conjunction with architects in India and in the US to qualify
for a LEED certification as an environmentally friendly and resource conscio us
structure. Right now, the sisters are in
the final stages of buying the land and we hope that construction can
start after the monsoon, around August or September.
Some of you
are already donors to our 100 Steps to Home initiative, our way of
thanking donors of $3,000 by having their name, or a parish or group name, on
one of the stepping stones that will lead to the entrance of the
orphanage. The sisters and orphan girls
will “pray” those stones every day, much like a rosary, and you will be
remembered. We have 66 of the 100 stones
committed and have raised about $250,000 toward the $300,000 needed to build
this orphanage. Here is an opportunity
for you to not only build that orphanage, but to be remembered in a very
special way.
Our Volunteers
In the past year over 20 of you have gone to India as a
HopeCorps Volunteer. You have gone to
our orphanages, schools and hostels and worked alongside the Salesians and have
performed brilliantly. You taught
English, you helped in computer labs, led art projects, taught songs and games,
comforted sick children, visited the slums.
Some of you volunteered for a week or two, while some of you were in
India for several months. As you have
precious memories of your time in India, you are in turn remembered. I hear about you on every stop I make.
Being a
HopeCorps Volunteer presents an ideal service opportunity. W e look at your individual talents and assign
you to one of the 32 locations in the province, to the location that can best
use those talents. Many of you were
recent college graduates. A mom and
daughter traveled together. One
volunteer, Mike Joseph, is a lawyer, and he is currently in India on a
whirlwind tour of all of the houses, so that we can determine what the most
critical needs are. Mike will be
returning to the states in May and plans to return to India for another six
months as our informal field director.
From recent
college graduates to a seasoned lawyer, there is a place for you as a HopeCorps
Volunteer. Just send an email to
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
for more
information and an application. And tell your friends about this life-changing
opportunity to be of service in India.
Books in India
In order to generate funds for educational needs in India, we created an online business, selling donated books through Amazon.com. We found that a good percentage of the books didn't have a high enough value for res ale. In our travels in India, we discovered that the schools and orphanages had virtually no books for the children, students and sisters to read. So we found a perfect home for all those unsold books.
In the past
year, we shipped two huge containers of books by sea, over 100,000 of them, to
meet that need. I cannot tell you how
gratifying it was to visit our school at Calicut and to see the children
quickly eating their lunch and then running to the small library right off the
playground to get a book. They sat in
the shade, reading books that we had been able to provide. Another
shipment is being readied, this one with even more children’s books that were
donated through four book drives at schools here in Wilmington, North
Carolina. Jennifer Allen, who
coordinates our books project, was featured in a story in our local paper for
her work with our Used Books, New Lives project.
2009 Annual Report
2008 - 2009 News
Dear Friends, there is so much exciting news to report after my
last trip to India. Tracy and I were
continually amazed at what your generosity has accomplished in the two years
since our work at Home of Hope began.
Our short history holds so many accomplishments; our future could not be
brighter. Let me bring you just some of
the highlights of this trip.
 Building
Dedicated
- December 8, 2008 was a day to remember. With the excellent Home of Hope marching band, left, (uniforms and instruments a gift of Christ the King School in Pleasant
Hill CA) providing pomp and music, the new building that we have been working
toward was officially dedicated. With
over two hundred people present, many speeches, and an excellent dinner for all
the guests, it was a festive, happy day.
The ground floor of the building has two
dormitories, one for the teenaged girls, the other for the younger girls. Our
girls now have a comfortable bunk bed to sleep in (gone are the days of straw
mats on a dirty concrete floor), and their own cubby for clothes and their few
personal items. Also, there is a sick
room, a shower area (they took cold water bucket baths) with warm water,
supplied by a donated, solar-powered system, and a bright, airy dining area.
 On the second floor, there will be a
language lab to teach them spoken English, and a computer lab. There are also two guest rooms, awaiting your
visit. The third floor will have an
assembly area, and a new media center, so we can provide them a first rate
education.
I wish you could have been there on the night
of the dedication, with the building adorned with strings of lights, left, as
the girls took off their shoes at the entryway and tiptoed into the dormitory
to "practice" lying down in their new beds, below. Then they gathered under the building's
portico, bubbling on about their new home.
"It is a palace," exclaimed 17-year Bhavani, who has been at Home of
Hope since she was very young.
 Paul Raj, who lives in Kochi, oversaw the
construction. Paul negotiated discounts
on materials and did not take a fee for his year of work. He probably saved another 30% and built a
building that is beautiful inside and out and will be well used for many years
to come. Paul's foreman, Aji, supervised workers whose craftsmanship was
remarkable. Everything in the building
is made by hand, from window grates to the beautiful beds in the guest rooms
and the intricately carved front doors.
 
Fountain
of Hope
-
Standing before the building is a beautiful fountain, left, with a statue of
Our Lady at its center, and streams of water providing a peaceful murmur day
and night. On the rim of the Fountain of
Hope we will have commemorative plaques for all major contributors, fitting testimony
to the generosity of so many people who provided some $160,000 for this
building. I have one envelope from a
church collection for $.73 and two donors contributed $25,000 each. Gifts small and large, together provide a
better, healthier, more dignified life for these precious girls.
Special
thanks to: Nadine Brown, Pio Park, Craig
Boland, and Allen & Jodi Rippy.
Our Wonderful Visitors - On this trip to India,
I was privileged to work alongside three wonderful lay associates, who have
caught the fire of our work. Dr. Barbara deLateur, left, of Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, did physical exams on the girls and found that most of
them were below normal height and weight for their age. To address this, Dr. deLateur brought over
vitamins, which will be taken daily. She
also recommended steps to a healthier diet.
 Bob Davis, left,
of Shrewsbury MA also brought over many bottles of vitamins as well as
inspirational and religious DVDs for the provincial media library. Bob and his family had previously funded the
shed that protects the roof and allows for clothes drying during the monsoon
season. Bob checked out the solar
powered water purification system and other elements of Home of Hope's
infrastructure and sketched out plans for our future work, not only at Home of Hope,
but in other Salesian houses.
 Stuart Padley, above to the right, our
new computer guru, who works for Microsoft in Seattle, poured over the computers in a number of locations, finding that none of them had authorized
operating systems and therefore were vulnerable to viruses and other problems,
which often shut down classes. Stuart is working to get proper licenses to make
these computers fully operational, and during his visit, installed routers in
the provincial house in Bangalore, the teacher's college in Angamaly, and at Home
of Hope - so now they are all WiFi, which connects main computers to computer
labs, seamlessly. Barbara, Bob, and
Stuart each had their special way with the girls, reading them stories,
teaching them games, simply demonstrating their love. It was inspiring to witness.
 Over
Five Tons
of Books Arrive
- Many
of you know about our "Used Books, New Lives" project where we collect donated
books and market those that are salable on Amazon.com (the girls in India do
some of the marketing, by the way). This year, we have made an astounding
$16,000 through those sales, money that goes into a scholarship fund for the
girls' higher education. We packed up all
the other books, the children's books, and shipped them by sea in a 20-foot
container. On November 26, the books
arrived in the port of Kochi and as two lorries were unloaded a few days later at
Home of Hope, left, everyone was amazed with the sheer volume, some 40,000
books in all.
 The
teachers at the Auxilium school (an English medium school that is on the
orphanage grounds) selected age-appropriate books for their classes, Pre-K
through 10th and now every classroom will have its own lending
library of 300-400 books. To see the
looks on the teachers' faces was so rewarding - they were so happy, left, to
have something that is sorely lacking: good reading material, outside of
standard texts.
Thousands of books will go to the new teachers
college at Angamaly, others to the pre-K
through 10th grade school in Bangalore, some good books will be sent
to the girls hostel in Bangalore, and thousands more to the rural school at
Hassan. We have virtually created a half
dozen libraries through this effort and are now collecting books for the next
shipment.
 The
"Green" Orphanage
- Two
huge concrete tanks just off the kitchen at Home of Hope mark another step in
our efforts to create a "green" environment.
One holds kitchen and human waste, left, that produces methane gas,
which is stored in the other tank, with two tubes leading to the kitchen, below. Our biofuel system, donated by Dr. Tom Mathew
in Wilmington, NC (who also donated the media center), is a model of
efficiency, providing enough methane gas for all the cooking plus, we think,
enough to heat hot water for bathing and kitchen use. Along with our solar-powered water
purification system, solar-powered water heater, and a new water retention
tank, the biofuel system makes Home of Hope a model in sustainability and
efficient use of natural resources.
Microloans
Start Businesses
- I
visited two new small businesses, funded through our Microloan Initiative. In one of them, a young widow who has small
children, has started a small shop in her home to sell clothing and
household supplies and rent electrical equipment to day laborers. With small loans, we are providing the
opportunity for poor women to become more self-sustaining.
Our Work
in Hassan
-
Earlier this year, when I visited the rural orphanage at Hassan, north of the
IT center of Bangalore, I found fifty girls who were badly  malnourished and had little or no
protein in their diet, which consisted primarily of white rice and vegetables,
all that could be afforded. I first
brought this need to St, Liborius School in Steger, Illinois and then to St.
James Cathedral in Seattle. Through the
generosity of the St. Liborius schoolchildren and St. James parishioners, the
orphanage was able to purchase four cows, right, and build a durable cowshed,
below. Three of the cows, Sara, Sonacia and Liboria (named in honor of the St.
Liborius kids) are pregnant, one, Carla, has just given birth to a female calf,
and is now milking.
As promised, cows are being named to
honor their sponsors - the calf is Mikey, in honor of Father Michael Ryan, St.
James pastor. The names of future female
calves will be fashioned from the first letters of our many donors' names - so
stand by for Sindhu (the name of an Indian river), Julia, Ammu (graceful),
Kanthi (light), Prabha (brightness) and Gunaci (good habits.) A special thanks goes to Tom and Gail James
for their extraordinarily generous support of the Hassan project.
For
some of the girls, when they drank Carla's milk, it was for the first time in
their lives that they had had a full glass of milk. Now, they will have milk every day, yogurt
and butter. Together with the vitamins
brought over by Bob Davis and Dr. Barbara deLateur, they are on their way to healthy
growth.
Hassan is colder than Kochi and the children
there were sleeping on the floor. With
some of the money raised at St. James, we were able to purchase bunk beds,
mattresses and bedding, so they can sleep warm and comfortably. Tracy and I also noticed that the children
had nowhere to sit, to eat, or read, or do their homework. Tables and chairs have been ordered, still
another gift from St. James.
 We Will Reach Out, With Your Help - At the new Salesian site in
Angamaly, an hour from Kochi, the first students have been accepted in the
grade school and the first class of fifteen girls are now in residence at the
teacher's college, below. This location
was chosen because the needs of the area are so great, and for poor children,
opportunities virtually non-existent. It
mattered little to the Salesian sisters that they lacked books for a library,
computers for training, and even the money to pay for day-to-day expenses.
This, again, is a tribute to their faith and trust in God. They want to educate poor children from the
area, children with little or no ability to pay, and poor girls from outlying
villages who will, after their two-year course of studies, become
teachers. They will break the cycle of
poverty that their families have known for generations.
The stories of these girls are heart
breaking. One doesn't want to go home
for the holidays, so the sisters asked why.
The 18-year old girl said her father wants her to quit and work as a day
laborer, earning $3 day, money he takes from her to support his
alcoholism. The story was still deeper -
he had abused her, physically and sexually.
Of course, the sisters will keep her safe, but this story underscores
how important is the education these Salesian sisters provide. The school at Angamaly is the only
opportunity these young people have to better their lives.
That is why it is so crucial for us to support
the work at Angamaly with our donations, resources (Stuart
Padley is working on computers), and our presence, as
visitors.
In the days ahead, we will be bringing
immediate needs to your attention, as well as drawing up a Master Plan to
address what we can do for the 32 Salesian schools, orphanages, and hostels in
the Bangalore Province. What we have in
the province, which takes in the three southern Indian states of Kerala,
Karnataka, and Andra Pradesh, is an intact structure - staffed by dedicated Salesian
sisters, lay women and men - but one that is very under-resourced. We can make a significant difference here,
dramatically affecting the lives of thousands upon thousands of poor
children. It is a mission both possible
and worthy of our best efforts.
As we have shown with our work at Home of Hope,
we can bring resources to bear, raise money for needed projects, and attract
volunteers and experts in many fields to visit India and help in our work. Great days are ahead. Our work has just begun. With God's help - and your help - there is no
limit to what we can do together.
        
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